I just started brewing a few months ago and have only done an extract and PM brew in that time. I enjoy this new found hobby and am wanting to go to AG as soon as possible so I have a few questions about the equipment.

My main question for this post is the mash tun. I see many posts about people suggesting a 10 gallon water cooler, which I have no problem with going that way, but am wondering why 10 gallon?

I have been looking around at prices and noticed that the 10 gallon water coolers are pretty expensive, like around 60 bucks or so and was wondering if I could get by with a 5 gallon.

I want to mention that I do have plans on some day going all out and making a beer sculpture and everything like that but want to get the jist of AG down first. I would also like to spend my money on kegging equipment before I build this sculpture.

So, finally, bottom line question. Would a 5 gallon water cooler work for a Mash Tun or would a 10 gallon really be better?

This question is probably posed 3-4 times per week, including by myself not too long ago, so I will try and answer for you. 5 gallon mash tuns are fine for most 5 gallon beer batches, but EVERY single person on this forum that has made a 5 gallon MLT wishes that they built (and ultimately do build) a 10 gallon instead. You never know when you are going to want to do a so-called big beer (which I think is something with a SG over 1.070), and these beers take large grain bills that will not fit in a 5 gallon MLT. Also, I believe that the 10 gallon also gives you more room for error if you don't hit your mash temps spot on each time. For these reason I am going to biuld a 10 gallon MLT, and if you are willing to eventually spend a lot of money on kegging and a beer sculpture, you might as well invest in the MLT right now as well. Hope this helps!
Jason

This has been answered many times.
In short a 5 gal cooler will work but 10gal gives you alot more flexibility. If you go 5gal you will eventually wish you had purchased the 10gal. Ofcourse the equipment you use to convert the 5gal can be transfered to the 10gal.
If your just experimenting then the 5gal is a good entry point and you can do stove top PM brews with it if you don't have a large enough pot. However if you plan on brewing AG get the 10gal.
Craig

I'm also a noob and have found out that Walmart sells the square 48 qt or larger coolers for $20 or so. As with the others I have also read or found out that you may need to add extra water to get the right temperature or have the room for large batches of grain.

Knowing that the large square coolers are cheaper than the large 10 gallon round (half the cost) I would just buy the larger size the first time and not have to worry about spending more later and needing to move all the valves and other stuff over.

To add to my first post, I just searched WalMart.com again and found an Igloo 54 quart cooler for $28 (regular $34 and they'll ship to your store) and it has the five day insulation, which I think is the best Igloo has to offer. Since I haven't been able to find the cube under $20 that was recommended to me, this will probably be the one I buy.

i was in the same boat as you, 1 extract batch and then straight to all grain. i used the same logic that you're hearing here. in reality the price difference between 10g and 5g isn't all that much and you're gonna want the capacity sooner or later. i built a 10g right away, and fortunately for me i had a 5g round cooler that was just collecting dust so i converted that also. i use the 5g more often just because i've been trying a lot of different recipes and experimenting and i prefer to make smaller batches when you're not sure if the beer will be any good. go for as big as is financially reasonable.